I am so grateful for those of you who have gone the distance with me on this challenge. It truly has been a remarkable experience. Even though we haven’t quite reached our 21-day mark, I have learned so much about God and myself in the process. I’d like to share with you some of the things that I have learned.

When all is said and done, and everyone has left, the only one left standing is God.

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother,” (Proverbs, 18:24, NIV). God is the only one who will ever love us unconditionally. He knows our strengths, our weaknesses, and our shortcomings, yet He chooses to love us anyway. We can talk to Him about anything without fear of judgment. He keeps our secrets. He is trustworthy. Most of all, He is the only one with the power to deliver us from our circumstances.

Don’t let other people disqualify you from the race that God has set forth for you.

Sometimes the people in our lives can’t see beyond our lives, ours pasts, our shortcomings and our aptitude to recognize our calling. The truth is, it isn’t their place to validate God’s plan. Oftentimes, people who bash others are acting out of their own insecurities. More times than not, jealousy is at the root. There are people in our lives who want to dictate how, when and if God should bless us. Thankfully, our future is not their call.

Not everyone on our team is our fan. Remember Jesus, the Son of God? Even He faced skepticism about his calling from the very people around Him. According to Jesus, “no prophet is accepted in his own hometown,” (Luke 4:24, NLT).

Be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19).

Our attempt to fill silence with useless chatter could be our biggest downfall. If we would just listen to what people are saying, and not saying, we would know who people are long before they have the opportunity to show us.

Sometimes, relationships run their course.

We are not God. We cannot save everyone. As difficult as it might be, we have to learn to step back and allow God to do His work in others as He did in us. We should remember that everyone does not run life’s race at the same pace. Our efforts to allow others to catch up with us could very well be the thing that is slowing us down.

Letting go is really just that.

A few years ago, I took swimming lessons at the YMCA. The very first thing that they taught us was how to float. I was very fearful of the water. My fear made learning VERY difficult. Every time the instructor told us to release our bodies in the water, I couldn’t. I always had to have one foot touching the bottom of the pool. I think that is how many of us live our spiritual lives. God tells us to cast ALL our burdens on Him, yet we have a Plan B. We half-heartedly follow His instructions just in case He fails. My friend, that’s not faith. That’s fear. Letting go means that both feet must come off the ground.

Trust your Holy Spirit.

Some people call the voice in the back of our heads instinct, but I choose to call it the Holy Spirit.

Surround yourself with eagles.

The Bible says iron sharpens iron, Psalm 27:17. The only way that you and I are ever going to maximize our full potential is by surrounding ourselves with likeminded people.